Instant messaging (which is also sometimes referred to as “IM”) technology is often used in electronic commerce (e-commerce) applications. Instant messaging technology has gradually expanded from its former role as a chatting and file transfer tool to an indispensable communication tool for e-commerce transactions. For example, at an e-commerce website seller users submit product information of products they are selling to the website and buyer users may select to purchase such products. Seller users and buyer users may each download and install an instant messaging client application related to the e-commerce website so that they may communicate to each other via such client applications. For example, a buyer user may chat with a seller user over the instant messaging client application installed at the buyer user's device to ask questions about a product that the seller user is selling.
As online transactions have increased in number, it has grown increasingly difficult for seller users to manually keep track of the transaction status information of each buyer user with whom it is doing business. In order to better communicate with buyer users, it is beneficial for seller users generally to know the transaction status information of buyer users that the seller users are currently chatting with over an instant messaging service. This transaction status information for a transaction (or order) changes continually as the order proceeds to be fulfilled. For example, a transaction order may be identified based on one or more of the following: seller user ID, buyer user ID, product information, and the order code. The transaction status information may progress through the following example stages: Ordered→Paid→Shipped→Delivery confirmed→Evaluated, etc. As an order is being fulfilled, the transaction status information associated with the order is updated over time at a transaction server of the e-commerce website.
Typically, if a seller user wishes to know the transaction status information concerning a certain order, the seller user must log onto a website (or other web-based portal) of the transaction server corresponding to an e-commerce website to send a query for the current transaction status information of the order. Therefore, the seller user would need to simultaneously utilize or frequently switch between the instant messaging application and the website of the transaction server in order to determine the current transaction status information for the orders associated with the buyer users that the seller user is associated with (e.g., communicating with) over the instant message application. This is particularly true when the seller user is holding a promotional activity and therefore is communicating with a large number of buyer users at the same time or within a short window of time. The juggling between using the instant messaging application and the website associated with the transaction server will not only increase the visit load on both the transaction server and the instant messaging server, but also greatly reduce the seller user's work efficiency. In particular, when the transaction server is unable to respond promptly due to an excess in visit load, the seller user will not be able to acquire transaction status information promptly or subsequently return such transaction status information to the buyer users. This not only reduces the efficiency of instant messaging for the users, but also diminishes their user experience.